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RPS Blood Bowl League - The RPS Cup Match Report Thread

By the end of the cup there should be a whopping 63 matches, each told from two perspectives. I love reading BB match reports, particularly told from both sides in a tough match, and this is the place to put them!

Try be evocative and descriptive, cursing the gods for getting triple skull or having your long bomb intercepted by a black orc. I'm expecting some epic overtime heroics and my great hope is that the some of the new players will stick around and keep the RPS BB community thriving for many moons to come.

New thread for a new forum. I shall post an account of my third round game with PresW in a short while.

Ok so apparently you can only have 4 images per post on the new forums. That is dumb.

This was an interesting mirror matchup.

I think I had the better roster going onto the pitch. Chris had lost a mummy and only had 2 ghouls (one with -1AV injury), and had a mix of 3 zombies & 3 skeletons to my 4 zombies & 1 skeleton. On top of that I had 3 guards (2 mummys & a wight) and a blodge ghoul to chris's stip ball wight & kick skeleton. Chris used his inducements to buy a merc ghoul to even the agi/speed game a little. Also, my team's colour was burgundy while chris's was bright green. It didn't look as awful as I thought on the pitch, but I think my choice was still better.

Fist won the FAME roll and the kickoff, which they elected to receive. The kickoff event gives Fist another RR as well. A good start for the green team.

A ghoul picks up the fairly short kick and hands it off to the loner ghoul, which has to burn a reroll to catch the ball. On Abracadaver's turn I manage a 1d block on the ball, but just get a push (which I will be seeing a lot of this game).

Fist move the ball right and hand off to a wight which breaks down the right side of the pitch with a ghoul friend. This move leaves the ball fairly exposed, but with my guard advantage the melee in the middle of the pitch makes blocking difficult.

The red team takes advantage of the exposed ball and knock the ball carrier down. The ball goes into the crowd who toss it deep into the Fist's half of the pitch, out of reach of any of Abracadaver. Fist fall back and pick the ball up with a ghoul and screen off any red players.

The red team does their best to pressure the ball screen (and KO the kick skeleton), but a failed dodge (w/ RR) leaves the left side of the pitch fairly open with just a couple zombies in range if the ghoul breaks left as all the fast players are marked up and screed off way over on the right side.

The Fist ghoul however decides to bring the ball down the middle of the pitch right into the middle of the scrum. Abracadaver mange to get a 2d blitz on the ball and roll push/push. It rerolls to a defender down and the blitzing ghoul picks up the ball, still in the middle of the big pack of players.

The Fist wight with strip ball attempts a 1d blitz on the ball, but fails the GFI and KOs himself.

After some chain pushing the ball is unmarked and free to run up the right side of the pitch. The green team makes some dodges to get a 1d blitz on the ball (just a push) and put some players in between the ball and endzone.

Abracadaver blitz the ball carrier free, but continued push only rolls leave several players in range of blitzing the ball. The red players mark up the green as best they can to make getting to the ball as hard as possible. The green team first tries to blitz their way to the ball, but stalls with a block/block result, then tries to do a ghoul dodge into 1tz, 1tz, 0tz to reach the ball, but fails on the second dodge.

The Abracadaver ghoul wastes no time scoring on turn 7. 1-0 Abracadaver

On the last turn of the half Fist mange to KO a zombie and a wight, but at halftime everything is back except an Abracadaver zombie and Fist's skeleton kicker.

The kickoff gives Fist another reroll, and Abracadaver pick up the ball and cage just behind the LoS on the right side. Fist manage to blitz down a mummy cage corner and put a TZ on the ball. The ghoul ball carrier attempts to dodge away and break down the open right sideline, but rolls double 1s for the dodge and drops the ball in only 1 friendly TZ.

The green undead block a path to the ball, blitz away the 1 TZ on the ball, pick up with a wight. The wight decides to move downfield alone.

A pair of Abracadaver ghouls bring the ball carrier down and pick the ball up. Fist seems more interested in punching the Abracadaver players than chasing the ball and manage to crowd push a red ghoul which gets a niggling injury and KO a zombie, while the red ball carrier switches over to the left side of the pitch.

Abracadaver advance the ball down the left side a cage up a little bit into the Fist's half of the field. After running out of red players to punch the green team returns its focus to the ball and blitz their way into the cage and put several players on the ball carrier.

Abracadaver manage to block and blitz the ball carrier free, who runs over and hands off to a wight on the right side of the pitch, who makes a break for top right corner where only a single marked ghoul is in blitz range.

The ghoul dodges away to blitz the ball carrier and manages to BH the wight with a 1d block, but fails the pickup roll. The red undead quickly crowdpush the ghoul and grab the ball on turn 15. The ball is well away from any Fist players and Abracadaver run the ball in on turn 16 to seal the score.

FINAL: 2-0 Abracadaver

This game played out much differently than I expected. I was hoping my mummy, block and guard advantage would let me control the blocking game, but with mostly pushes from the red players Fist was able to keep the red players on the ground and get a few more off the pitch.

I was, however, able to better position my players to get the right players in the right places most of the time so that I was able to bring my skilled and/or faster players to the critical plays and make some getaways with the ball.

Chris played a very good game, but I think he made some tactical misjudgements when he had the ball. On the first drive he decided to break with the ball which left it exposed, then when he recovered it he brought it into the middle of the large pack of players rather than run away with it down the side. Then on the second drive he ran free with the ball unsupported rather than run it back to his supporting players which were punching my guys into the ground. I think the game would have gone very differently if he swapped around his cage & breakaway plays.

In the end my undead were able to outmaneuver his undead and that's what won the day. GG Chris!

No fancy pictures or extended prose, but I thought a semifinals match at least deserved a blow-by-blow report:

Dumb Luck (Lizardmen, Nullkigan) 2 - 0 (Undead, Daave) Pundead

Weather: Nice all match.Stadium: The Big Boat (it can't be an oceangoing vessel aka "Ship" if it has a Blood Bowl pitch, right?)

Team Notes:
Dumb Luck lost two Saurus (Death, MNG) last match, but managed to rebuy one. Sadly, they missed the opportunity to append the Mk2 suffix to Bigger Stick's replacement. Eleven players total.
Pundead were down two Ghouls, but bought a spare zombie to make up to it. Twelve players total.

First Half:
Dumb Luck won the toss and elected to receive.

KICKOFF #1: GET THE REF. Both teams gained a bribe.
Both teams started this drive with 11 players on the pitch.

T01: Dumb Luck, unable to create their usual wall of flesh, deployed into a flanking formation. Force Multipliers (Skink) caught the kick and moved up to follow the main thrust. Dearest (Mummy) immediately KO'd Superior Logistics (Saurus).

T02: Dumb Luck switched flanks, using the superior speed of the skinks to escape the oncoming tide of necrotic flesh.

T03: Opportunity Exploitation (Skink) KO'd Nation (Zombie). The lizards formed a loose cage and moved up, but a miscalculation left a large hole which Ease (Ghoul) exploited. The ball carrier, Force Multipliers (Skink), is KO'd but fortunately the ball stayed within the Lizardman cage. Dearest (Mummy) tries to chase after the cage, but fails a Go For It, badly hurts itself and flubs the regen roll.

T04: Ease (Ghoul) was pushed into range of Dumb Luck (Kroxigor) by a blitzing Saurus and is promptly KO'd. Emergency Evacuation (Skink) picked up the ball and immediately scored.

T05: The Lizardmen tried to set up a dense meat screen, whilst the Pundead started to focus on a flank. Barry (Wight) picked up the ball.

T06: Strategic Foresight (Saurus) closed in on the Pundead ball carier, Barry (Wight), and managed to exert a tacklezone on the Wight. Several skinks also closed in and added their pressure to the scrimmage surrounding the ballcarrier. Rob (Zombie) rolled a Both Down and smashed his own knee, but regenerated. Superior Logistics (Saurus) earned some SPP anyway.

T07: The concerted efforts of several Skinks managed to push back Survival Guide (Zombie), which left just enough room for Dumb Luck (Kroxigor) to break free and blitz Barry (Wight). Barry (Wight) was pushed to the deck, and the ball scattered into the crowd. An enterprising youth chucked it into Dumb Luck's backfield. I Want My (Mummy) failed to take down Superior Logistics (Saurus) with a Both Down roll, but regenerated a Niggling Injury. More SPP for the Saurus!

T08: As neither team was in range to score before the end of the half, a punching match ensued. Dumb Luck opened the fouling game with Opportunity Exploitation (Skink) failing to make (un)life hell for a Zombie. Both teams had a bribe, so why not?

T09: Dumb Luck used the Blitz to great effect. Strategic Foresight (Saurus) punched through the Pundead lines and caught the ball. Unfortunately no other players were able to reach him and provide support. Two Zombies and a Ghoul managed to end his moment of glory and knocked the ball free. Ging Gang (Ghoul) picked up the ball. I Walked With A (Zombie) started to foul the Lizardmen. Dumb Luck (Kroxigor) failed his bonehead check, and took the team blitz with him. Unshakeable Conviction (Skink) led the Skink Murder Swarm in a gang foul. Big Fat Greek (Zombie) was killed and failed to regenerate.

T10: Ging Gang (Ghoul) tried to hand off the ball to Snow (Wight) who failed the catch. I Want My (Mummy) predictably missed the bounce. Emergency Evacuation (Skink) darted in to try and steal the ball from a single tackle zone, but failed despite sure hands. Four or five bounces resulted in the ball being wedged in the wrappings of I Want My (Mummy).

T11: I Want My (Mummy) handed the ball to Ging Gang (Ghoul) who rushed downfield and managed to Go For It beyond the effective range of any Skinks. Snow (Wight) blitzed to ensure that no skinks could reach Ging Gang (Ghoul). Barry (Wight) managed to KO Careful Planning (Saurus). Two Skinks dodged away from the central melee to chase after the Pundead ball carrier, whilst another two went deep into the Pundead's half. Dumb Luck (Kroxigor) managed to free up Superior Logistics (Saurus) who charged down field after Ging Gang (Ghoul). After successfully going for it, the Saurus managed to KO Ging Gang (Ghoul) and knock the ball free.

T12: The Pundead sent more players downfield after the ball. A Ghoul and a Wight tried to ensure that the Lizardmen would not be able to bring the ball back up the pitch. Abercrombie (Zombie) continued the Pundead fouling streak, and stunned Dumb Luck (Kroxigor). Superior Logistics (Saurus) shoved away one of the nearest Pundead players and opened a risky path for the ball. Emergency Evacuation (Skink) picked up the ball and handed it to Opportunity Exploitation (Skink), who ran up field and used two GFI's. A reroll was required for a short pass to Risk Minimisation (Skink) who immediately took the ball to the touchline and scored. Stalling would have encouraged even more fouls, and several Skinks were in danger of being blitzed. The ball travelled about 25 squares in one risky play, all told.

T13: I Want My (Mummy) opened with a block against Dumb Luck (Kroxigor). Mighty Blow turns a lucky result into a Death, and no apothecary can be found. I Walked With A (Zombie) continued to foul, and put Bigger Stick (Saurus) into the KO box. Dumb Luck wasted their last reroll on trying to position some Saurus to go after the ball next turn, but failed the second Go For It, leaving their formation wide open.

T14: Pundead pushed a cage down through the opening left by the death and KO. Snow (Wight) failed to catch a handoff from Ease (Ghoul). Force Multipliers (Skink) failed to pick up the ball because of the single hostile tackle zone, but the ball fortunately bounces towards the Pundead half.

T15: Barry (Wight) went long, as did Ging Gang (Ghoul). Ease (Ghoul) failed to pick up the ball. Careful Planning (Saurus) threw a both down block, immediately ending the Lizardman turn.

T16: Ease (Ghoul) picked up the ball and ran in for a short pass to Barry (Wight). However, the pass was inaccurate and went a stunning 90 degrees into the crowd, who threw it to Ging Gang (Ghoul). The catch failed, and the Pundead were left with an empty scorecard. Superior Logistics (Saurus) KO'd Ging Gang (Ghoul) and hovered ominously above the ball. Force Multipliers (Skink) dodged free and picked up the ball, but takes a dive (KO) trying to get in range for a short pass (SPP only, nobody was far enough up to score).

END OF MATCH: 2-0 to Dumb Luck.

Winnings: 1, rerolled into 2 for 40K. Insufficient to replace the Kroxigor :(

Despite the early retirement of one of the Pundead's Mummies, the death of Dumb Luck and even the glorious blitz-catch of one of my Saurus, the real game decider was the ball handling incompetence of the Wights. The Ghouls did a little better, but were left in the open during critical plays.

I still hated the Mummies. MV 3 is plenty for the line of scrimmage and Guard is a real menace on a reliable Str 5 player.

C'mon, ChainsawHands. I don't want to play the same team twice in a row!

I won't repeat Nullkigan's fine words, but out of 11 catch rolls I made 2, and one of those was a mummy! I failed to take the lizards off the pitch permanently (except for killing the krox after the game was decided). The failed hand-off on turn 10 was costly, as Nullkigan was quite badly out of position at the time, and then I made the biggest mistake of the match by making an unnecessary block on a saurus and allowing him to get free for a blitz (and pushing him closer to the ball carrier). I was annoyed at my bad luck at the time and it would have been 1-1 with everything to play for.

Nullk put a lot of emphasis on his Krox, and only failed his bonehead once and made a lot of blitzes including a 1-dice block on a mummy which galled me no end! I loaded the game into BB manager and it confirmed what I already knew, 40% of my 1 dice rolls came up 1 or 2, and 42% of my block dice were AD or BD, compared to 24% and 31% for Nullkigan.

Having made my excuses, I don't want to detract (too much) from Nullkigan's victory. He took his chances and used his superior speed to wriggle through my lines and stop me from scoring, and the game did give me a chance to equalise but I blew it.

So you had terrible luck and I had average luck on blocks and above average luck on pickups/passes/dodges (of which I think I had fewer overall, although that was probably because you had to repeat yours on the subsequent turn after a failure).

This was a punchy tense match that was really only won by an insanely lucky series of dodges.

Things started off with the Undead using their 150k inducements to hire a wrestle Ghoul Merc and then winning the coin toss; electing to receive. Cheering fans even gave them an extra RR.

The kick goes deepish and a Ghoul grabs it and hangs back while the rest of the Undead probe a bit on the flanks.

The Orcs get straight to doing what they do best and KO a zombie and BH another zombie (who regens) on the LoS.

With their center rapidly disappearing the ball Ghoul continues to hang back while the Undead on the flanks do some blocking. The Orcs are all for punching things and manage to overrun the left flank.

Running out of options elsewhere on the field a Ghoul advances the ball on the right and hands off to another Ghoul who runs around the Orcs over there with a Wight.

The Orcs makes some GFIs and a dodge to blitz down the ball. A series of back and forth blocks manages to slowly bounce the ball back towards the Orc endzone, but with plenty of Orcs between the ball and the Undead.

At this point the rest of the pitch is punching each other (well the Orcs are punching the Undead at least) while a Mummy, Ghoul, and Wight for the Undead and a Lineman, Thrower, Black Orc, and ST4 MB Blitzer fuss over the ball.

At one point the Thrower manages to grab the ball, but is then knocked down by a Ghoul, who then fails a dodge to get away and pick up the ball. The Orcs elsewhere on the pitch decide that standing over Undead who are getting to know the grass isn't so interesting and start heading over to the ball scrum.

A Black Orc gets hold of the ball and the increasingly desperate Undead try a -2d block on him and manage to get the ball free again with the help of a reroll. Another ghoul runs into the fray and grabs the ball while the Wight decides its a good time to KO himself on an AD block.

Now outnumbering the local undead 8:3 the Orcs are able to set up a pretty horrendous screen around the ball. Describing the following Undead play as "unlikely" doesn't quite do justice to how I'm sure CH felt when the Mummy managed to stand up and blitz a hole (2+ GFI & 2d block) for the Ghoul to dodge out of (6+, 4+, 3+ required). In the end it was a 12.8% chance of succeeding, but resulted in a TD for the Undead.

1 - 0 Abracadaver

The kickoff gives the Undead a blitz, but with only 2 turns left in the half not much happens for either side.

By halftime all 4 of the KO Undead are back up and functioning and the kickoff gives the Orcs a Quick Snap.

The greenskins pick up the ball and make like they're going to drive down the right side of the pitch. Once the Undead wall is set up they pull back and cage in their half. A mummy BHs the ST4 MB scary blitzer (Apo is used to ready him for the next drive)

The Orcs shift over to the left side leaving the undead to maneuver around the Troll and Black Orcs blocking the middle of the field.

The Undead are able to get some players in front of the Orc cage and slow it down. Some blocking, chainpushing, and general shuffling around results in a BH Ghoul and a crowdpushed (-1 MV) Ghoul and a -1ST Blitzer and -1MV Black Orc.

Clever chainpushing and a dodge gets the Thrower with the ball out of the mess of players and in range to score on turn 15, but the Undead blitz him down and pick up the ball; ending hopes of an equalizer as the clock runs out.

Final: Abracadaver 1 - 0 Nuffle's Boys

CH played an excellent game. In the first half I was more and more outnumbered as the half went on and it's only pure luck that got me a TD. In the second half I was able to stall his push, but if the score were still 0-0 and he wasn't up against the clock I'm not sure if I could have stopped his TD.

And thus I have blundered by way into the finals :). Nullkigan and I should (hopefully) be playing sometime soon for all the beans (except the 80k the loser gets to keep).

Nullkigan's Dumb Luck vs potatoedoughnut's Abracadaver

Nullkigan takes 2 babes for his team with inducements, but can't quite make up for his dead krox.

The Lizards win the toss and elect to receive in the very sunny weather.

The kick is high and the lizards cage up on the left side of the pitch. As the Undead shuffle over the Lizards move back to the middle and KO a zombie.

The Undead are able to put a lot of pressure on the ball but the slipper Skinks are able to slip out and make a handoff to a pack of three Skinks which cage up against the right sideline.

Again the Undead put pressure on and get two Ghouls and a tackle Wight (who is BH but regens) pinning them against the sidelines. Some blitzing and blocking manage to free the ball carrier who score on turn 4.

Skink Death Squad Scores!

1 - 0 Dumb Luck

The weather changes back to nice Blood Bowl weather as the Undead receive. The Lizards try kicking into their own half, but the ref gives the ball to a Wight.

Things start picking up for the Undead as a Mummy hugs a Saurus and gives him a smashed hip (-1MV). The apothecary doesn't care for the Saurus much and offers Dead as an alternative. On the very next block a zombie gives another Saurus -1AV.

Poor Saurus!

The Undead are happy to cage the ball up in the middle as the Lizards try to find a way to stop the Undead with an increasingly large strength deficit. On turn 7 the Wight makes a handoff to a Ghoul to score.

1 - 1 Tied

Nothing eventful happens in the turn before halftime, but I forget I'm receiving in the second half and set up for defense (oops). Luckily the kick lands in a decent spot and I recover the ball and cage up on the left side of the field.

The Undead slowly grind their way down the pitch KOing a Saurus and a Skink BH itself on a failed dodge.

By turn 15 the Undead are in position to score but fail the hand off. With the ball now on the ground the Skinks see their moment to shine. One crazy Skink makes 3 dodges (all passed with 6s!) but then fails the 6+ pickup.

Another Mummy hug Badly Hurts a Saurus the next turn, but again fail to pick the ball up on their last turn of normal time. Crazy Skink again makes a mad dash for the ball this time making 6 (!!) dodges and a 6+ pickup (I think this was about a 4% sucess rate), but fumbles the pass to get the ball clear.

Crazy Skinks!

Now into overtime a Ghoul finally decides to make the pickup and successfully hands off to a ghoul who runs to the line to stall until OT runs down some.

As overtime counts down two Skinks get KOd and a Saurus gets hugged into the crowd for another KO. On turn 19 of overtime the Undead finally put the ball in to take the lead.

2 - 1 Abracadaver

The final turns add the last insult as the kickoff results in a Blitz and the Undead are able to put a Wight under the ball, but fail the catch. Just to re-emphasize the theme of the game another Saurus gets hugged off the pitch by a Mummy (KOd). The Undead try to score again but fail a GFI ending the match.

Mummies just want to hug you (to death)!

Final: Abracadaver 2 - 1 Dumb Luck

GG Nullkigan! Unfortunately Dumb Lucks ran out as Saurus after Saurus got blocked off the pitch. Nullkigan tried to do some heroics with Skinks but the player and strength advantage of the Undead let them control the game from turn 5 onwards.

And thus the RPS Cup concludes!

I really attribute my wins to not provoking Nuffle with my team name. I think Nuffle's Boyz and Dumb Luck both got the worse of the dice in the Semis and Finals because they were a little too overt with their Nuffle luvin :)

Thanks again to Daave for creating and running the cup, I look forward to future seasons!